Chapter 175 – A Frozen Trail – Holly Hayfield

The novelty of staring up at my new bedroom’s ceiling was quickly wearing off. It was hard to enjoy the change of scenery when I was virtually prisoner here day-in and day-out thanks to my leg wound. While I wasn’t crippled by it, the healing process would be stunted by moving around unnecessarily.

Perhaps this was divine punishment for getting involved with Crystal Gray before I was fully prepared… Thinking back to the fact that Alyssa asked me if I needed more daggers beforehand made me snort derisively. I was a fool for going in the way that I did. I got greedy and paid the price for it.

For the entire week thus far I was confined to my bedroom inside our new house. The alibi I gave to my mother and everyone else that asked was that I wasn’t feeling well. That flimsy excuse could only fly for so long when I refused to see a doctor or have my temperature taken.

My mother humored me regardless, being the trusting person that she was. It wasn’t like me to play sick without reason. She didn’t look very convinced by my ‘sickness’ but didn’t trouble me by prying deeper. She was going to let me take as much time as I needed.

That only made me feel guilty about my circumstances. She wasn’t the only person concerned for me either. My friends Lilith, Val and Jay, Sam, Alyssa, Zara and Naomi, Silver and Casper, Charlotte, Amy, and Jada all came to check up on me at different intervals. It was nice to feel so loved. That was the one redeeming thing about all this.

I didn’t get to show off our new home since I needed to stay in bed and avoid upsetting my stitches. I was also afraid that my limping might give me away. I tried to hide the nature of my injury in front of my mother especially, which was hard. She watched me closely ever since I first told her that I was ‘sick’.

This also made me useless during our move. It was painful just to handle boxing my own things and trying to move them myself. Luckily Alyssa was around to help me at the time, but I still felt bad. All my weakness painfully reminded me of just how decisively I was defeated by Crystal Gray.

My cat leapt up onto the bed and landed on my stomach, wrenching me out of my miserable thoughts.

“Oof! Hey! That hurt, Gabriel!” I said as I rubbed him behind the ear. “I thought you didn’t want to sleep up here with me?”

Gabriel just started kneading the blankets on top of me before lying down. He was such a fickle and moody cat sometimes. It made me smile. He helped keep me from getting too depressed ever since I became bedridden.

My mother knocked on the door lightly before coming in.

“I see Gabriel likes it here.” She noted as she came in.

I shifted in bed to face her more directly.

“I like it here too. This room feels more comfortable than my last bedroom. It’s more spacious too.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She said, walking over to sit on the edge of the bed. “So, how are you feeling…? Any headaches…? Feeling lightheaded…?”

“Hmmm…” I hummed absentmindedly while petting Gabriel. “I’m feeling a lot better today than I was yesterday. I should be able to go to school tomorrow.”

She smirked in amusement.

“You want to return on a Friday?” She asked. “You don’t want to just keep resting until Monday?”

“No, I can’t. My friends are worried about me. I want to show them that I’m alright.”

She nodded and stood back up.

“That’s considerate of you. I was worried about your condition but If you say you’re ready to return to school, then I’m all for it.”

I stopped playing with Gabriel to inspect my mom more closely. She was in her normal business attire.

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s what I originally came in here to tell you. I’m going back into the office for a few more hours. One of our clients is having a bit of an emergency and the boss is calling my team in to look at the problem. I shouldn’t be gone all night, but I’ll be out for a while. This is a high-profile government contract.”

“Oh…”

“There’s some leftovers in the fridge if you’re hungry. You should fill up now that you’re feeling back to normal.”

“Before you leave, I wanted to ask your permission to go over to Alyssa’s for a while. She wants us to do our homework together. She’s been collecting my homework for me while I was absent from school so that I don’t fall behind.”

My mom shrugged.

“That’s fine. After all the help she’s given us this past week I can’t really say no. Do you need a ride there before I go to work?”

“No, that’s fine. She says that she’ll pick me up in an hour when school ends. I should be back before you’re home from work.”

“Okay then. If you start feeling unwell again then just come back and rest. I’ll check up on you when I get home.”

“See you then.”

She walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind her. I waited in bed for her to leave before doing anything else. Once the car pulled out, I was free to get up and change my bandage. This one was much cleaner than my last bandage. The wound was finally closed all the way. I’d just need to have Helga remove the stitches.

Alyssa arrived as soon as she said she would. After putting out some food for Gabriel, we took off together. Only, we weren’t going to her place to do homework. I was already caught up there thanks to Alyssa dropping off my homework the day before. We were going to Autumn Eden, where Helga and Silver would be waiting for us.

“It doesn’t look that bad now, unlike when you first came in with it. You should be fine.” Helga confirmed while inspecting the scar on my thigh. “Hold still while I finish taking the stitches out.”

“Finally,” I said, reclining my head back on the arm of her couch. “You have no idea how irritating the stitches are whenever I’m taking a shower.”

“I can imagine.” She said as she worked. “I’ve had stitches before, but not for a wound as bad as this. The wound is closed, but you should still take things easy for a while. Give your body the rest it needs.”

“Rest…? I’ve been resting all week now.” I complained. “I can’t go on resting more with Crystal Gray still out there doing who knows what.”

“No… Holly… I think Helga’s right here.” Silver said. She walked over to the chair nearest me and sat down. “This was a scary turnout and things could’ve been worse. She got your leg pretty bad, but that could’ve easily been something more vital. Honestly… I don’t want you going back in there, as a friend.”

“And let Crystal Gray get away?” Alyssa asked. “If anything, she’s just given us more reason to do away with her! She’s deadly! Maybe more so than anyone else on the original list! Besides, Holly says they killed a girl that we didn’t know about! Are we going to let that go unpunished?”

Silver gave Alyssa a contemplative look.

“Think about it like this, Alyssa… Say Holly goes back in there and fights Crystal one-on-one just like before. What will you do if Holly gets seriously injured in the process?” Silver asked.

“That won’t happen, Holly is…!”

“But what if?!” Silver asked more boldly. “What if she doesn’t come out at all? Are you willing to risk Holly’s life over this? She means more to you than anyone else, doesn’t she? Is there anything in this world worth putting her life at risk, Alyssa?”

Alyssa was taken aback by the statement and didn’t say anything in response. Although I was mostly in agreement with Alyssa, Silver’s challenge was also giving me some pause.

“It’s even riskier now that you’re hurt, Holly.” Helga pointed out. “You won’t be as fast or flexible as usual. You’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“You’re… right…” I capitulated. “My chances of defeating her in my current condition are… slim. I’ll need more time to recover.”

“So the attack on Crystal is cancelled altogether?” Alyssa asked. “She was the final person on your list aside from Ms. Sampson.”

“I didn’t say that. What I need is a better plan of attack. My usual approach won’t work against an enemy that’s expecting it. I need to shake things up.”

Helga stood up and stretched both of her arms upwards.

“In any case, give me a heads up about what you come up with later. I’m gonna hit the sack.”

“You’re going to sleep already?” Silver asked. “I thought you were a night owl.”

“I am, but this damn new vice principal…”

I cracked a grin.

“She’s got you coming in earlier?” I asked. “I never thought I’d see the day!”

Helga pointed a defiant finger at me.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me, or you’ll be patching yourself up next time!”

“I’m not laughing! I’m not laughing!” I said while smiling. “I just thought it was interesting that you’re actually going to arrive on time for this vice principal, but not Ms. Sampson.”

“Under normal circumstances I’d ignore her too, but this demon is threatening my position. You see, my qualifications for the job aren’t exactly up to scratch…”

“Really…?” I teased sarcastically.

“That’s strike two!” She warned. “But yes, I’ll have to actually put in effort now. Ugh.”

Silver laughed.

“Oh no, we wouldn’t want that!” Silver said.

Helga pointed at Silver.

“You’re on strike two also!”

She turned to give Alyssa a challenging glare. Alyssa just stared back at her with a blank expression.

“I didn’t say anything.” Alyssa said.

“Good.” Helga said before turning back to me. “I hope you can talk to her when you return to school tomorrow.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises that things will turn out well.” I said.

“That’s all that I ask. Goodnight, little monsters!”

The three of us wished her goodnight and waved her off. She went off to one of the secondary rooms that she was using as a living space. I sat up on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. This room was clean and well-kept compared to most of Autumn Eden. The four of us were occasionally improving upon the rooms that we frequented.

“You still look worried.” Silver noted. “Is it because of the vice principal debacle?”

“It’s not that… It’s… Well… I’m supposed to be meeting an old friend soon. The date hasn’t been officially arranged, but…”

“Oh, Zara told me a little about that.” Silver said.

“Me too.” Alyssa added.

“What?” I asked in surprise. “Zara told you?”

“She said that you and your friend from Cherry Vale were going to have a meetup soon.”

“That’s the plan. Val is helping us out.” I said.

“I’d love the opportunity to meet her.” Silver said.

I considered things for a moment in my head.

“That… That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. This may be a good opportunity to introduce her to some of my friends from Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls.”

“A party,” Alyssa suggested.

“Maybe…” I said. “I’ll give it some thought.”

We spent a few more minutes coming up with ideas for a potential casual party at my place. The idea of having more people around would at least alleviate some of my concerns. I’d still talk to Ellie one-on-one, but this way would help to relax the atmosphere and ease the tension between us.

Alyssa dropped me off first since Silver and Alyssa were going home together. Alyssa would be sleeping over at Silver’s place. The two of them were spending more time together now that they were getting to know each other better. Alyssa was making progress at meaningfully socializing with other people.

Since my past few days were spent resting in bed and watching TV, I decided to do things differently tonight. My mother turned one of the spare rooms of our new house into a home workout area. This was an excellent spot for me to spend some time getting back into shape.

I was doing sit-ups on the floor when my mother walked in.

“I’m back.” She announced. “I see you’re not wasting any time making use of this room now that you’re feeling better.”

I sat up straight.

“Welcome back!” I said. “My muscles were practically begging for it after being stuck in bed for several days in a row. The stiffness I felt earlier is already starting to fade away.”

“That’s good… Maybe I should do a little exercising too before heading to bed. I spent most of the day sitting in a rigid office chair.” She said. “How did your meeting with Alyssa go?”

“It went well. She went over to Silver’s place an hour ago. I opted to not join them. There are some preparations I need to make before I return to school tomorrow. Also, there was something I wanted to ask you about.”

“What’s up?”

“Is it okay if I invite some friends over on Saturday? I’m planning a reunion and introduction party.”

“Reunion and introduction…?”

I bit my lip nervously before continuing.

“It’s Ellie…”

“Ellie Daniels…?! You’re talking with her again?” My mother asked in surprise. “I thought you said she wasn’t returning your calls?”

“A few things changed since then… Remember Zara…? She transferred schools recently and helped me get in touch with Ellie again. I wanted to have her over and introduce her to some of my new friends.”

My mom smiled and walked over to sit down on the floor beside me. She placed one hand on my shoulder.

“Are you kidding? You don’t even have to ask! Of course we can have Ellie come and meet your new friends! I’m delighted that you two are finally speaking to one another again! This is the best news I’ve heard all week.”

I smiled a little too.

“The thing is… I’m nervous… I’m worried that our relationship with each other will never go back to normal… It’s been a long time and her view of me by now has changed dramatically. I’m scared of how she’ll react when she sees me again for the first time.”

My mom pulled me into a hug.

“Aw… There’s no need to worry about that. It’s Ellie you’re talking about! You two have been through so much already that it’s a wonder that you were ever separated. Think of all the times you were there for each other. I’m sure she’ll see the best parts of you no matter what.”

I sighed in relief at her soothing words. I put my arms around my mom and embraced her back.

“Thanks mom… I think you may be right.” I said. “I’m going to ask my friends for their help with this. I’ll talk with Ellie at Val’s workshop, then we’ll bring everyone here for introductions. I think I’m ready.”